Microscope slide containers or folders manufactured of various materials such as cardboard and plastic have been made for many years for the purpose of storing and indexing microscope analyzeable specimen materials supported on a glass microscope slide. Various microscope slide containers have been proposed in an attempt to provide the microscope slide holder with advantages such as a hinged cover rotatable to be positioned adjacent on outer bottom surface of the slide holder; a lifting member secured to the inner bottom surface of the container for raising the microscope slide above the floor of separate microscope slide receiving compartments; finger recesses within each microscope slide receiving compartment for ease in positioning or removing a microscope slide from each compartment; and structural elements within the microscope slide receiving compartments to maintain each microscope slide in a fixed position for handling and transport with minimal disturbance of the analyzeable specimen material.
One slide holder presently marketed by Scientific Products, division of American Hospital Supply Corporation, McGaw Park, Ill. 60085, M6305, Pop-Up Slide Holder is manufactured of "heavy pressed cardboard" and includes 20 separate microscope slidereceiving compartments covered by two separate, mating, elongated covers secured to the slide holder with elongated tapes to permit approximately 360.degree. articulation of the covers so that the covers can be positioned adjacent the outer bottom surface of the slide holder.
The Harrison U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,371 discloses a foamed plastic container which can be shipped in the form of a blank and can be easily and quickly assembled. The container includes end walls and side walls, each hinged to a bottom by a plastic or paper mesh. When the container is folded into position, the walls interlock with the bottom and are firmly held together by the tension created by the mesh hinge. The container is used for shipping articles such as electron tubes and electronic components having a shape identical to the shape of the component in the container. The Harrison U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,371 does not relate to a slide holder.
The Pickett U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,300 discloses an arrangement of knobs on the surface of plates for providing a space between adjacent stacked plates. However, the Pickett patent does not disclose mating recesses in the bottom of each plate, as provided in the microscope slide holder of the present invention. The purpose of the knobs in the Pickett patent is to provide an open space between adjacent plates when the plates are stacked upon one another in order to permit fixation fluid to enter between the plates when stacked.
The Jones U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,161 discloses a tray-like holder for accommodating microscope slides, molded from organo-plastic materials. The holding tray includes a base, end walls and sidewalls, all of which form a rectangle. A plurality of spaced first partitions extend upwardly from the base to form a plurality of transverse receptacles for microscope slides between adjacent partitions. The holder also has a plurality of cutaway walls or openings formed in the base and located between each of the adjacent partitions. The slides are placed between partitions with the short edges of the slide placed against abutment means near the sidewalls, with the side edge portions of the slide in engagement with the adjacent partitions. In order to remove a slide, a finger is placed into the uncovered portion of the opening and against the shorter edge of the slide to lift it out.
The Jones U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,161 does not provide means for preventing vertical movement, but rather, only for preventing horizontal movement by partitions and abutment means with one entire side of each slide resting on the base. The microscope slide holder of the present invention has rounded protuberances extending upwardly from the base of each slide compartment and downwardly from the cover located over each slide compartment to hold the slides in order to prevent vertical movement.
The Markwitz et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,393 discloses a microscope slide container made from plastic and having a first body member which includes peripheral end flanges defining a space, divided by a central edge flange section to provide equal reception recesses or slide compartments. Stop projections extend inwardly from the shorter edges of the reception recesses. Adjacent the longer section of the edge flanges are elongate rib-like stop projections formed integral with the support projections. This arrangement permits microscope slides to be placed into the recesses so that the slide face is supported by the edge of the rib-like support projections, while the short edges of the slide abut the stop projection.
A second body member is included in the Markowitz et al. design which has the sole function of covering the first body member to form a complete container by sliding over the edge flange of the first body member. The cover body member is provided with two rib-like projections in the form of lands, which are situated above the supporting projections when the container is closed. The rib-like lands of the lid body member extend about 1 mm from the inward face of the body member and contact the other slide face of the object slide not in contact with the support projections, so that the object slides may not leave the recesses.
Although the Markwitz et al. support projections of the first body member and the holding projections of the cover body member provide means for preventing vertical slide movement, the support projections come into contact with an area that is equal to the entire width of a slide and, therefore, have a greater probability of coming into contact with sensitive specimen areas of a slide. On the other hand, the microscope slide holder of the present invention provides rounded protuberances, extending downward from the cover, that come into contact with portions of a slide surface in only two very small areas, thus lessening the chances of damaging a sensitive portion of a slide specimen.
The Sholberg U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,515 discloses a molded plastic microscope slide enclosure case having mirror image left and right sections joined at their adjacent edges by a thin plastic hinge which allows one section to fold over and overlie another section. Hook clasps maintain the sections in a closed relationship in order to hold and protect the slides therein. One section includes a slide receiving cavity defined by longitudinal walls, a lower segment of an annular wall, and a tapered end of a transverse end wall. Elongate ribs or longitudinal spacer ledges and transverse spacer ledges upstand from the bottom wall of the slide compartment and serve to support a slide therein.
Unlike the microscope slide holder of the present invention having a plurality of rounded protuberances extending downward from the cover relative each slide compartment in order to prevent vertical slide movement, the means in the Shoberg patent for holding a slide in the compartment in order to prevent vertical movement, are the longitudinal and transverse spacer ledges. With the Shoberg arrangement of supports, a large area of the slide surface is in direct contact with these ledges and thus more susceptible to damage.
The Namiki U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,635 discloses a filing sheet for storing a plurality of microscope slides within recesses, each including four upward projections for supporting a slide above the base portion of the sheet so that the slide is thereby supported on the four upward projections. Depending shoulders at each end of a recess extend part way across each recess and allow a slide to be inserted beneath the shoulders after which vertical movement of a slide is restrained by the shoulders and the projections. The Namiki U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,635 discloses transparent or translucent plastic for ready slide inspection. While the Namiki patent shows upstanding projections, it discloses shoulders above the slides which contact a substantial surface area of the microscope slides.